The Internet has made this the age of the instant political movement. Like-minded people (and even unlike-minded people) can find one another and quickly create a kind of critical mass. The hope, often the expectation, is that these new aggregations can bring positive change to the body politic. This includes seizing new opportunities for democratizing communication and communicating democracy, both of which are urgently needed.

About Me

Former Member, New York State Committee of the Independence Party (73rd AD - Eastside Manhattan) and Former Member, New York City Independence Party Organizations - Manhattan Executive Committee and County Committee, representing the 73rd AD.

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Sunday, April 15, 2018

Britain Needs New Ideas Not New Centrist Party

Just read this article in the current Economist.

This is supposedly an Age of Disruption. Across the World, established Giants are being slain by Startups fuelled by nothing more than Brains and Bravado. The most exciting question hanging over Britain at the moment is whether the same Spirit can be applied to the Country’s ossified Political Structure.

Rumors of a New Political Party abound. The Observer has suggested that Simon Franks, a Film Mogul, has amassed $70 Million to Fund a New Party. The Times has revealed that David Miliband, a former Labour Foreign Secretary, is willing to return from New York to offer his Services. Sir Nick Clegg, a former Liberal Democrat Leader and David Cameron’s Deputy Prime Minister, has hinted that he might join a New Party.

It’s easy to see why this talk generates such excitement. Many Britons are repulsed by both Jeremy Corbyn’s Hard-Left Labour Party and Theresa May’s Brexified Tories. Some 56% tell Pollsters that No Party represents their views. Moderate MPs from both sides of the aisle make no secret of their Contempt for their Leaders.

Reconstructing this Centrist Philosophy will be harder than Building it was.

Time spent trying to rethink Liberalism is much more likely to be Repaid than time spent Building a New Party.

New Parties sink into the sand unless they are very lucky. New Ideas can colonize old Parties and Redirect old Debates.

The best way to Change the Country is to “permeate” all its Parties, Left, Right and Center, with Ideas. Today’s Centrists need to do likewise, and focus on thinking up New Ideas rather than inventing New Parties.